Mursi Monarch

This is one of my favorite images from the Vanishing Royalty collection. Every time I show it, people pause. Many admit they’re not even sure what they’re looking at at first. It has a presence that pulls you in before you start to understand the details.

This woman from the Mursi tribe in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley stands with a strength that’s impossible to ignore. Her gaze is steady, proud, and calm, as if she’s watching over the land itself. The headpiece she wears is called a Nilla, used by the tribe to honor their most prized bulls. Sometimes the men wear it, but its main purpose is to decorate the bull that carries the highest value within a family. Seeing her wear it speaks to the close bond the Mursi have with their cattle.

Her lip plate marks her passage into adulthood, a tradition that begins in puberty. The lip is cut, a small stick is placed inside, and over time the opening is stretched to hold plates of growing size. The size of the plate influences the dowry her father can request, often paid in cattle. It’s not something worn every day. It’s brought out for important moments: dances, ceremonies, weddings, and major community events.

She’s wrapped in a royal blue garment that almost feels classical, like something worn in ancient Greece, yet it’s entirely her own. Combined with her height, posture, and expression, the whole scene becomes a quiet portrait of a culture shaped by deep traditions, daily challenges, and their close relationship with the land and their animals.